Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Decision by the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko, adopted on 11.03.2024, published on 12.03.2024
Photo by Anatoly Zhdanov, Kommersant
The situation in the country during the current election campaign is radically different from all previous elections.
Restrictions on the rights of citizens characteristic of a martial law have been virtually introduced. Political censorship in the media, shutdown of international TV channels, blocking of web-sites, administrative and criminal prosecution of dissent based on laws envisaging punishment for “discrediting”, “fakes”, “extremism”, and “justification of terrorism”, laws on “foreign agents” and “undesirable organisations” – all this makes it impossible to have an open and broad public discussion about the choice of the future for our country. But this is precisely the essence of the campaign for the election of the head of state.
At the same time, the introduction of multi-day, mobile and remote electronic voting and persecution of the community of independent election observers make the vote counting completely opaque.
Four candidates, who are united on all the key issues, including in relation to the special military operation, are registered for the elections. Three of them represent political parties unanimously voting in the State Duma for repressive and militaristic laws, and the fourth candidate is Vladimir Putin. There is no alternative on the ballot to the government’s policy of continuing hostilities and killing people.
On 25 March, the Yabloko Party University will host a lecture on the New Economic Policy (NEP) in the USSR in 1921 – 1926 as a path to dictatorship. The lecturer is Vladimir Buldakov, Doctor of Historical Sciences and chief researcher at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Dismissal from service of those mobilised “is possible in accordance with the current legislation, as well as after the cessation of the circumstances that served as the basis for the conscription of citizens for military service”.
Chairman of the Yabloko party Nikolai Rybakov, Director of the Yabloko Anti-Corruption Policy Centre Alexei Karnaukhov and the initiative group ChelovekPrav call on deputies of the State Duma, members of the Federation Council, as well as regional and municipal deputies to disclose their income and property declarations for 2023 and make them public. A web-site has been created where Russian citizens can sign the relevant petition.
Photo: Prisoners in Women’s Penal Colony No. 6 of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Altai Territory / Photo by Andrei Lukovsky, Kommersant
Anna Cherepanova, Deputy Chair of the Yabloko party and deputy of the Novgorod City Duma, sent complaints to the Public Prosecutor General’s Office, the leadership of the Federal Penitentiary Service and the Commissioner for Human Rights about violations of the rights of women-prisoners in women’s penal colonies in the Krasnoyarsk and Altai Territories. Political prisoner Maria Ponomarenko reported flagrant violations of the law in her letters to civil activists. Maria Ponomarenko is in Pre-Trial Detention Centre No. 1 in Barnaul now, as the investigation into her new criminal case is ongoing. Before that, she served her sentence in Penal Colony No 6 in the Altai Territory and Penal Colony No 22 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. It was there that Maria Ponomarenko encountered violations of the rights of prisoners.
Photo: Detention of Yelena Osipova at one of the protests in St. Petersburg / Photo by Yelena Lukyanova, Novaya Gazeta
An online auction of paintings by the famous St. Petersburg artist Yelena Osipova will be held in central office of the Yabloko party in Moscow. All proceeds from the sale will go to the author of the works.
Yelena Osipova is of advanced age and does not feel well; in May 2023 she suffered a stroke after persecution for her actions for peace. The auction will be held to support the artist, as well as to help preserve her creative legacy (part of the funds raised will be used for these purposes).
On 11 March, the Yabloko party Moscow office will host the “Live Forever” theatre piece. The key idea of the play is as follows: one must remain human always and in any conditions and trials.
The play is staged by the Moscow independent theatre Baggage.
The production is based on one of the most striking passages from the novel “Life and Fate” by Vasily Grossman, an epic novel about the Second World War. Many compare this work to War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
Based on the publications in the Telegram channel of the Kirov branch of Yabloko
Photo: Svetlana Marina / Photo by the Kirov branch of Yabloko
Today, on 1 March, the Pervomaysky District Court of Kirov found Yabloko supporter Svetlana Marina guilty under the article of repeated discrediting of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and sentenced her to 1.5 years of forced labour.
It should be noted that at the previous hearing, on 28 February, the public prosecutor requested two years in a penal colony for Svetlana Marina and insisted on issuing her a three-year ban on administration of web-sites.
Svetlana, 56, has lived all her life in Kirov and has been working as a software engineer. She came to activism in 2014, started by participating in street actions against political repression, in defence of human rights and political prisoners, and then came to organisation of many events. “At first I was an ordinary participant in street actions, but then I began to organise them myself. When the authorities refused to give permission for the actions, I filed lawsuits challenging the refusals,” Svetlana says.
Based on the publications in the Telegram channel of the Yabloko branch in Tatarstan
Photo: Ruslan Zinatullin / A screenshot from the video made by the Yabloko branch in Tatarstan
The Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan fined Ruslan Zinatullin 25,000 roubles under Article 20.2 part 2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (“organisation of mass simultaneous stay and (or) movement of citizens in public places, resulting in a violation of public order”).
On 5 March, the Moscow office of the Yabloko party will launch a new collection of women’s prose “Memory. The Feminine Gender”. The book includes the best short stories submitted to the competition of the Union of Russian Writers “New Amazons – 2023”. The Presenters will be the First Secretary of the Union of Russian Writers Svetlana Vasilenko, and journalist and writer Nadezhda Azhgikhina.
Yabloko leaders comment on the President Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly
Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov notes that all the main things form Vladimir Putin’s address, have been already promised to some extent, however, “the things are still there”. “We will protect nature reserves, – but, in fact, the protection is getting weaker. We will protect Baikal – and they are preparing a law on clear cuttings of woods on Lake Baikal. In six years, we will sort all solid waste – and they carry out a waste management reform destroying the nascent separate waste collection system. And not a word about the main thing – about peace.”
Photo: Emilia Slabunova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
“I categorically object to the plans of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation to abolish the social studies course for grades 6-8 at the level of basic general education and leave only one hour for its study in grade 9!” Emilia Slabunova, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia and honoured teacher of Russia, wrote in her blog post.
Boris Nemtsov believed that Russia should be a peaceful country. He was a sincere person and a Russian patriot. This determined his political views. Exactly nine years ago, on 27 February, 2015, Nemtsov was shot. In the back. Right next to the Kremlin walls.
The authorities bear political responsibility for his murder.
Let his memory last forever!
———
The photo shows Boris’s grave. Today several police squads were on duty near Nemtsov’s grave on Troekurovsky cemetery…
Photo: Human rights defender Oleg Orlov at the hearings of the Golovinsky Court in Moscow, 27 Febraury, 2024 / Photo by Pavel Bednyakov, RIA Novosti
The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko expresses protest against the conviction and imprisonment of human rights defender and one of the founders of the Memorial human rights society, Oleg Petrovich Orlov.
Photo: Fragments of a building in Yubileiny District in Adviivka destroyed during the fighting / Photograph of Stanislav Krasilnikov (RIA NOVOSTI) 22 February 2024
The intense warfare between Russia and Ukraine has continued relentlessly now for two years – people are dying every day. Continuation of the military actions in any form – offensive or positional warfare — will not deliver any positive outcome for Russia, Ukraine or Western countries. Any continuation implies endless and irreparable tragedy. “The dream of some people – to end the dispute once and for all “on the battle field” – is not possible — I penned these words in my article in Novaya Gazeta Just Stop, published a year ago in February 2023. In the article I called for the immediate conclusion of a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine. This text, which is now a year old, could simply be reprinted. All I would need to do is replace the assumptions and warnings with assertions and a statement of the facts.
Photo: Anna Cherepanova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
During the annual report of the Novgorod police chief Colonel Sergei Maksimov, in the Novgorod City Duma, the head of the Yabloko faction, Anna Cherepanova, expressed distrust in the actions of the police, listing episodes of pressure on Yabloko candidates and party members.
Illusration: Pablo Picasso, Guernica. 1937. Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid
On 28 February, the central office of the Yabloko party in Moscow will host a concert-performance “Fooled. 1938-1941”. The production is based on the diary of Friedrich Kellner (1885-1970). The director of the performance is Alexander Gnezdilo, member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko. The show is timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the start of the so-called “special operation” on the territory of Ukraine.
The Novgorod branch of Yabloko released a film devoted to the two years of the special military operation and entitled after Erich Maria Remarque’s “All Quiet on the Western Front”.
“I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another.”
Photo: Lev Shlosberg / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The epidemic of denunciation shows that the state manipulates society, inciting hatred towards dissidents, and those people who use denunciation understand that this is how they can realise themselves, become successful, build a career and get a positive assessment. Everyone strives for a positive assessment, including that from the state. Millions of certificates of honour, gratitude, and letters of gratitude did not grow out of nowhere.